


He Pulled His Punches

by mynameisyarra



Series: Ben 10: A Forgotten Timeline [1]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Gen, Gore, Repressed Memories, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 22:32:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9037589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mynameisyarra/pseuds/mynameisyarra
Summary: Ten years old kids sometimes didn’t know how to not go all out. They couldn’t tell their strength, let alone an alien strength.Takes place between the first and the second episode of the original series
Mostly from Max's POV





	

When Max first saw the Pyronite with a Plumber symbol on his chest, Max thought his past was going to put his grandchildren in danger. It was rather ironic that his job ended up to be what protected them. Especially after a lifetime of hiding it for his family’s sake.

As a Plumber he was trained in strategic thinking, combat, and diplomacy. However, it was never part of his job to help traumatized cadets. They have proper psychologists and psychiatrists for that. Now he wished he was more ambitious as his youth and took that damned psych degree he thought as nothing more than secondary option.

Ben was kneeling and puking his gut out in front of a body. Or rather, he was puking out the guts of the robber he bit as Wildmutt. Max couldn’t do anything but to rub circles on his grandson’s back gently, waiting for him to spit out most of the innards. Wordlessly, Max handed a bottle of water to Ben, with its cap already opened. 

Ben took it without looking at his grandpa. He used the water to clean his face from blood and his mouth from his vomit. His body wasn’t shaking, not really. Ben’s movement was jerky as if he forgot how to move. His breathing was ragged, but Max couldn’t see Ben’s expression as he kept his face bowed.

The Plumber decided that he didn’t need to.

“Ben.” Max put a hand on his grandson’s shoulder, as gently as he could. “Go back to The Rustbucket, I’ll take care of this.”

Ben didn’t nod. Didn’t say anything. He simply moved away from Max’s touch to the direction of their RV. 

He would deal with that later, Max decided. First thing first, he should get rid of the body.

* * *

When he went back to The Rustbucket, he was exhausted. Both physically and emotionally. "Gwen, where’s Ben?” 

The girl didn’t look up from her book. Good. Max didn’t trust himself to put on a good mask right now. “Asleep. Probably played too much as a dog.” Gwen made a little ‘heh’ noise, proud of her latest insult.

“Oh.” Max said. Guilt acted up in his stomach as he felt the relief of not having to deal with _that_ yet. He was a terrible grandfather, Max was sure.

* * *

Ben woke up for dinner, refreshed from his nap. “Soooo, what are we having for dinner today?” he asked cautiously to Gwen.

Gwen made a face “Lots of grass.”

“What? Grandpa! Come on!” Ben blanched. “I thought you said we could have barbecue tonight!”

Grandpa Max looked startled at his reminder. “You want barbecue?”

“Uh, duh!” The boy folded his arms, he didn’t really understand the perplexed face his grandpa was making.

The old man only stared at Ben as if he was crazy, so he turned to Gwen. “Gweeeen! Back me up here!”

“You _did_ promise us, Grandpa.” Gwen used her goodie goodie voice. It better work this time around...

“Okay.” Grandpa said, sounding rather relieved. “Okay, we can have meat.”

* * *

Max thought, ‘Oh. He doesn’t remember’.

Except he did, subconsciously. Max could tell. Because after that, no one else ever died in their fight.


End file.
